Scenic areas in England

[Savageduck]

On 2009-05-28 00:40:28 -0700, Ron Hunter <rphunter@charter.net> said:

> Savageduck wrote:
>> On 2009-05-27 16:45:52 -0700, Twibil <nowayjose6@**********> said:
>>
>>> On May 27, 3:17 pm, Savageduck <savageduck1{REMOVESP...@me.com> wrote:
>>>>> Still, people try it several hundred times in a year. Running from t
>>> he
>>>>> police is usually a way to just make the bill higher, but people seem
>>>>> to get a thrill out of it, so away they go.
>>>> Yup!
>>>> Many of them aren't even capable of handling their vehicle as
>>>> illustrated by this morning's news from San Jose, but they run anyway.
>>> Can go either way, though. A now-retired policeman friend of mine
>>> wiped out four patrol cars over the course of his career in our town.
>>> (Note the nice double-entendre there.) Totaled two in non-emegency
>>> traffic collisions and two more in high speed pursuits.
>>>
>>> The moral to this story is that you should *never* try to stay up with
>>> a Stingray through a 90 MPH sweeper in your Ford four-door sedan, no
>>> matter *how* good you think you are.
>>
>> I know of a Sgt. in our department who launched an unmarked Chev
>> Caprice Pursuit conversion in a "Dukes of Hazzard" scenario, flew about
>> 60 feet, and when he landed snapped the chassis in the middle. That car
>> just folded up! He never lived it down. He ended up as of all things an
>> Academy instructor.
>
> Easily the best way of outrunning a 'Vette' is to use that radio to
> call in help up the road. A nice spike-strip across the road does
> wonders, and if you are lucky, you get to see Chevy's famous exploding
> plastic car when the driver loses it.

One of the strange things with spike strips, is the amazing ability of
a great variety of vehicles to run considerable distances on rims. The
good thing about the 'vette in this regard, is those rims are not
steel, and they wear down to the disc rotors pretty quickly. Also very
few of those hit with spike strips actually "lose" it, they sort of
grind to a halt, unless they are truly crazy.

The other thing to consider is, gas in a hot running 8 lunger is a
finite commodity.
--
Regards,
Savageduck

[Chris H]

In message <WsydnV41zL2OKIDXnZ2dnUVZ_oVi4p2d@giganews.com>, Ron Hunter
<rphunter@charter.net> writes
>Stormin Mormon wrote:
>> I suspect there are plenty of guns still in England. Unless your
>>population is very, very docile, there would be at least a few which
>>are quietly held.
>>
>Yes, I wonder how many of those previously legal guns were reported
>stolen a few days before the deadline for turning them in....

Apparently very few. It was too bigger risk as the police would not
believe you and doing that sort of thing carries a far greater risk.

Besides there were more than enough illegal guns floating around anyway.
--
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
\/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

[Chris H]

In message <gvm07e$nt1$2@news.eternal-september.org>, William Black
<william.black@***********.uk> writes
>Chris H wrote:
>
>> In message <WsydnV41zL2OKIDXnZ2dnUVZ_oVi4p2d@giganews.com>, Ron Hunter
>> <rphunter@charter.net> writes
>>>Stormin Mormon wrote:
>>>> I suspect there are plenty of guns still in England. Unless your
>>>>population is very, very docile, there would be at least a few which
>>>>are quietly held.
>>>>
>>>Yes, I wonder how many of those previously legal guns were reported
>>>stolen a few days before the deadline for turning them in....
>>
>> Apparently very few. It was too bigger risk as the police would not
>> believe you and doing that sort of thing carries a far greater risk.
>
>You really don't know much about this stuff do you.

Having been a full bore gun owner (rifle and pistol) for over 20 years
and a founding member of the (UK) National Pistol Association and UKPSA
member I know a bit about it.

On the other hand you have given no evidence of anything let alone any
reason why your word should be accepted.

>In fact only one gun owner reported his pistols stolen rather than handing
>them in.
>He was eventually arrested and tried for illegal possession of firearms,
>and wasting police time. He did not receive a custodial sentence...

This is not correct. There was One case you cite above. There were
other cases where guns were reported stolen about that time. I have no
idea which were stolen and which just disappeared but, as the police
were assuming the worst at that time, very few would have been tempted
to try it.

It was not the same when the shotgun rules changed.

The shotguns were on an open ticket. Ie you could own as many as you
liked and no record of what you had was kept. Then the Police decided to
move them all on to an FAC type where every gun was registered by serial
number and type to it's owner.

Many realised (and in fact the police often told them) that this was
step one and step 2 was to ban certain types. (As in fact happened)

So when they counted up all the registered shotguns and compared it to
the numbers sold they found that of the type they wanted to ban (pump
and self loaders) the difference was over 110,000 guns they could not
account for....

--
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
\/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

[whisky-dave]

"Twibil" <nowayjose6@**********> wrote in message
news:f936a65f-0c99-453a-bfa3-b6da1c117e02@w35g2000prg.************.com...
On May 27, 3:17 pm, Savageduck <savageduck1{REMOVESP...@me.com> wrote:
>
> > Still, people try it several hundred times in a year. Running from the
> > police is usually a way to just make the bill higher, but people seem
> > to get a thrill out of it, so away they go.
>
> Yup!
> Many of them aren't even capable of handling their vehicle as
> illustrated by this morning's news from San Jose, but they run anyway.

Can go either way, though. A now-retired policeman friend of mine
wiped out four patrol cars over the course of his career in our town.
(Note the nice double-entendre there.)

yes it was well aimed.

Totaled two in non-emegency
traffic collisions and two more in high speed pursuits.

The moral to this story is that you should *never* try to stay up with
a Stingray through a 90 MPH sweeper in your Ford four-door sedan, no
matter *how* good you think you are.

Here in the UK they seem to use helicopters to chase speeding cars rather
than risk
innocent people being killed in RTAs, but it does happen of course.

Most of these incidents seem to be when the car is stolen or a crime has
been committed (no driving offence crime). Guns are rarely used.

[Twibil]

On May 28, 12:40*am, Ron Hunter <rphun...@charter.net> wrote:
>
> Easily the best way of outrunning a 'Vette' is to use that radio to call
> in help up the road.

Sorry, a radio isn't a magic wand.

First, there has to be somebody up ahead on that road*to intercept the
oncoming scofflaw. On little two-laned roads in rural areas that's
unlikely. Too many variables in terms of possible escape routes the
speeder could take, and far too few cops to cover them all.

Secondly, that guy up ahead must have a radio with frequencies
compatible with yours, and if he's with a different law-enforcement
branch that's doubtful. (Our local law-enforcement guys: local cops,
county sheriffs, the CHP, and emergency services only got their
communications coodinated properly a few years ago, and things still
don't always work as advertised.)

> A nice spike-strip across the road does wonders,

Only if you know what road your perp is going to be on and you
havethe time -and a reasonably safe opportunity- to deploy one. (And
if your baddie doesn't simply drive around it.)

> and if you are lucky, you get to see Chevy's famous exploding plastic
> car when the driver loses it.

That isn't "lucky". I've seen cops kneeling down and being sick by the
side of the road from the emotional impact of dealing with the
aftermath of a particularly gory crash scene, and I've felt that way
myself as a result of racetrack crashes on a few occasions.

The car chases we all think about these days are the ones constantly
popping up on TV news shows, but we tend to forget that *those are
only the ones that go on long enough for a news helicopter to get on-
scene*, and those only happen in metropolitan areas! But there are
hundreds of very short chases that take place every day all across
America, and in a certain percentage of those the chasee gets away
scott-free; having ditched the pursuit long before they can get close
enough to get a positive I.D. or any idea of where he's gone. And
those successful evasions happen regularly despite radios, spike
strips, et all.

Now: Is it a stupid idea to try outrunning the cops? Sure.

Is it dangeous? Very. (And not just to the perp, either.)

Do I recommend it? *Absolutely not*!

How do I know these things, and did I ever ditch a cop myself (back in
the days when we all rode dinosaurs?) I'll take the 5th.

[William Black]

whisky-dave wrote:

>
> "Chris H" <chris@phaedsys.org> wrote in message


>> Yes they did as ALL *legal* guns were registered by serial number to an
>> owner with an address and where they kept the guns. You move house you
>> have to tell the police and get the new storage inspected.
>
> So what was the point of the owner taking the gun to the police ?
> Why not let the police go to the gun, less risk of them getting stolen
> in transit.

Because there were something like 50,000 people involved, the firearms had
to be written down in a book and the owners eventually paid compensation.

While police stations have the resources to manage that sort of thing
specialist 'firearms officers' (not the armed ones, the ones who administer
the firearms licensing system) did not, at that time, have the necessary
time to do the task.

The job is now carried out by uniformed staff who are not full police
officers. My local chap is actually a retired soldier who spend 25 years
as an armourer and knows a great deal more about guns than any policeman I
ever met.

>
>> The only guns they did not know about were illegal guns.

>
> Is that how the legality of guns is defined.

More or less, yes...

There are some exceptions, such as antiques, but even some of those require
licenses

--
William Black